Egypt : Enhancing Access to Finance for Micro and Small Enterprises

This operation provides a $300m line of credit (Financial Intermediary Loan) through Egypt's Social Fund for Development (SFD), the apex body for micro and small enterprise finance, which would on-lend on commercial terms to eligible Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), potential microfinance institutions (MFIs), and banks. The project objective is to increase micro and small enterprise credit sustainably and broaden the outreach of finance through innovative delivery mechanisms and financial products. It plans to contribute to a sustainable improvement in inclusive access to finance for micro and small enterprises on a commercial basis. The Project went to the Board in March 2010 and is planned to be completed at the end of 2015. This note is based on the Project Appraisal Document (PAD). The project is well underway as of the date of this note but it is too early for any implementation lessons to be collected. Overall, lack of access to finance has been a major factor constraining the growth of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Egypt. Microenterprise lending in Egypt is supported by a fragmented set of hundreds of NGOs distinct from the mainstream financial sector. SFD finances 390 NGOs that are on-lending to microenterprises, many of which are small in scale.